Latest news with #O'Keefe's
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Karen Read murder trial: Three things to know now that the prosecution has rested
After six weeks and dozens of witnesses, Massachusetts prosecutors retrying Karen Read on a murder charge in the widely publicized death of her boyfriend three years ago rested their case Thursday. While the theory put forward by special prosecutor Hank Brennan was the same as that offered by the assistant district attorney who previously tried the case — Read, drunk and angry, struck Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV and left him for dead on Jan. 29, 2022 — there were some notable changes from Read's first trial, which ended with a hung jury last summer. Absent were two high-profile witnesses who were key to the defense's claims that Read was framed. Also missing was the former Massachusetts state trooper who led the investigation into O'Keefe's death and was fired after revelations of misconduct emerged in the first trial. Another notable change was the role of Read, who has maintained her innocence, herself. In addition to her remarks to reporters outside the courtroom, her words have been a regular presence in Brennan's presentation, which has featured a series of interview clips that show what Brennan has described as Read's 'campaign' of public statements. Read's lawyers are expected to begin making their case Friday. The prosecution's final witness was one of its most important. No cameras captured the events that led to O'Keefe's death, nor have any witnesses claimed to have seen what happened at 34 Fairview Road — the home in Canton, just south of Boston, where O'Keefe, 46, was found unresponsive in the front yard shortly after 6 a.m. on Jan. 29. But Judson Welcher, a biomechanical engineer and accident reconstruction expert, testified that data from Read's 2021 Lexus showed that at 12:32 a.m., outside 34 Fairview, the vehicle drove forward 34 feet, then reversed 53 feet. The SUV was traveling at nearly 24 mph, he said, with a throttle of 74%. While there was no vehicle data to support Brennan's allegation of a collision, Welcher testified that lacerations on O'Keefe's right arm were 'consistent' with injuries caused by a broken rear right taillight on the SUV. Welcher testified that his height and weight approximated O'Keefe's — around 6 feet tall and 220 pounds — and that he conducted re-enactments showing what such a collision might look like. In one video, Welcher wore clothes similar to O'Keefe's from Jan. 29 — jeans, a T-shirt, a baseball cap — while a Lexus that was the same model and year as Read's backed into him at 2 mph. Welcher also knocked down the defense's claim that the taillight was broken in a different collision on Jan. 29. As Read left her home around 5 a.m. to look for O'Keefe, she was in a panic, she has said, and she backed her Lexus into his Chevrolet Traverse. Ring camera video played in court captured the incident. But Welcher testified that an analysis of the video showed Read was driving less than 1 mph at the time and that there was no evidence of any damage to either vehicle. 'That impact did not break or crack that taillight," Welcher said. Michael Proctor, the ex-trooper and case agent who managed the investigation into O'Keefe's death, was included on the prosecution's list of possible witnesses. In the first trial, Proctor spent hours on the stand and acknowledged that comments he made to friends, family and supervisors about Read were unprofessional and that they 'dehumanized' her. But prosecutors did not call him to testify in the retrial. Massachusetts State Police dishonorably discharged Proctor in March after an internal investigation found that he violated agency rules by sending derogatory messages and sharing confidential investigative details with non-law enforcement personnel. Proctor testified that his conduct did not harm the investigation. He has not publicly commented on his termination, but his family has criticized his former employer, saying he was unfairly scapegoated. His former supervisor testified this month that Proctor had acted with 'honor and integrity.' 'I believe human beings all have biases,' Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik told the jury. 'Especially in this case, they did not affect the outcome of the investigation.' Bukhenik acknowledged that he was disciplined in part for failing to adequately supervise Proctor and lost five vacation days. Proctor is listed as a possible witness for the defense, which has accused him of bias and manipulating evidence. Two other figures who played an outsized role in the first trial — Brian Albert and Brian Higgins — were also on the prosecution's witness list but were not called to testify. Albert, a retired Boston police sergeant, lived with his family at 34 Fairview at the time of O'Keefe's death and had a gathering at his home on Jan. 29 that O'Keefe planned to attend. Prosecutors — and Albert — have said that O'Keefe never made it to the party and that no one who was there that morning saw him inside. But the defense has alleged that O'Keefe entered Albert's home and was beaten, bitten by the family's German shepherd and dragged outside, where he died. They have pointed to Higgins, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who was at the gathering, as a possible conspirator in this alternative theory of the case. In the weeks before O'Keefe's death, a series of text messages introduced as evidence showed Higgins flirting with Read and appearing frustrated when she did not speak more candidly about what she wanted from him. The tension most likely prompted the fight that led to O'Keefe's death, the lawyers have said. (Through their attorneys, both men have denied involvement.) Albert and Higgins are both on the defense's list of possible witnesses. Read has been unusually candid with journalists, and Brennan has shown a series of clips from interviews she has given to reinforce the prosecution's theory of O'Keefe's death. In one clip, shown during opening statements on April 22, Read was captured telling 'Dateline' that she could have 'tagged' O'Keefe in the knee 'and incapacitated him. He didn't look mortally wounded as far as I could see. But could I have done something that knocked him out?' In another clip, shown this month, she was captured telling 'Investigation Discovery' about the moment she found O'Keefe in the yard of 34 Fairview. She wondered out loud whether she could have run over his foot as she began driving from Albert's home. 'He's roughly where I left him, so yeah, when I found him I was thinking, did I, like, clip him somehow?' she said. In another series of clips introduced as evidence last month, Read was shown talking openly about her drinking. She and O'Keefe had been at two bars before they drove to Albert's house, and in an interview with "20/20," she was asked whether she felt fine to drive after four drinks. 'Yup,' she responded. In a separate clip, she told a Boston Magazine reporter that she drank a 'normal amount' — a vodka tonic every 40 minutes. Outside court last week, Read was asked whether she had any reaction to the videos. 'No,' she said. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Karen Read trial Day 20 recap: Was John O'Keefe struck by a baseball bat?
After a morning delay caused by an "issue" with the jury, testimony resumed in Karen Read's second murder trial with new medical analysis of the victim's injuries and key evidence that prosecutors believe tie Read to the crime. Judge Beverly Cannone told jurors at the start of court on May 21 an issue had arisen that made it necessary for her to pause testimony and meet with each of them. She did not explain the issue, but it did not appear to effect the trial, which resumed before 11 a.m. with testimony from Miami-based Neurosurgeon Aizik Wolf. Wolf was a critical witness for prosecutors in Read's first trial, which ended in 2024 in a hung jury. The 45-year-old Massachusetts' woman is accused of striking her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, with her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage and leaving him to die outside the Canton, Massachusetts, home of another Boston cop during a massive snowstorm in January 2022. Read's attorneys say she was framed for the murder by the owner of the home, Brian Albert, and others. More: The dog did it? What to know about the German Shepherd tied to the Karen Read trial During his testimony Wolf told jurors O'Keefe's head injuries were consistent with a fall backward onto hard ground, and did not appear to be from a weapon, as the defense team has suggested they could have been. The testimony comes a day after one of Read's lawyers, Robert Alessi, clashed with a key digital forensics' expert, Shanon Burgess, over allegations that he misrepresented his college degree achievements. Burgess developed a timeline using data from O'Keefe's cell phone and Read's SUV that suggests Read's Lexus could have hit O'Keefe. That analysis, and Burgess' credibility, came into question after he admitted to not having a bachelor's degree despite listing one as part of his education history on LinkedIn and elsewhere. Here's what you missed on Day 20 of the trial. Cannone told jurors the trial is moving ahead of schedule. She adjourned the court until May 27, the Tuesday after Memorial Day, canceling the previously scheduled half day of testimony for May 22. Read's attorney Alan Jackson zeroed in on Hanley's analysis of the shards of glass found by former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor on the bumper of Read's SUV. Hanley said those small pieces did not match the cocktail glass found near O'Keefe when she tried to piece the items together like a jigsaw puzzle. Jackson further pressed, asking if any other pieces of glass matched the fragments found on Read's Lexus. Hanley said the piece of glass Michael Proctor found at the crime scene matched the bumper glass. Read's defense team has suggested throughout the trial that Proctor, the fired state trooper who sent crude text messages while investigating O'Keefe's case, was corrupt. In questioning of witnesses, they've frequently cast doubt about whether Proctor properly handled key evidence. Proctor testified in Read's first trial but was fired in March for reasons unrelated to the crude text messages. Hanley, the forensic expert, resumed testimony about pieces of evidence she analyzed, including pieces of Read's taillight, O'Keefe's clothing and a broken glass. She testified that six of nine shards of glass found in the street near 34 Fairview Road matched the broken cocktail glass discovered by O'Keefe's body nearby Red plastic pieces found in O'Keefe's clothing could have originated from Read's taillight or 'another source with the same characteristics,' Hanley said, based on her analysis. Prosecutor's called Aizik Wolf, a Miami-based neurosurgeon, to the stand. Wolfe testified in Read's first trial about O'Keefe's brain injuries. Wolf reviewed and described photos of the cuts found on the back of O'Keefe's head, including an inch and a half laceration, contusion, abrasions, fractures to the base of his skull. O'Keefe also had brain bruising, he said. Wolf told jurors that such injuries can occur when someone falls backward and their skull hits the ground, 'gets smashed a little bit,' and the brain jostles forward. O'Keefe's injury did not appear to be from a weapon, such as a baseball bat, because he did not have a 'depressive skull fracture,' Wolf said. It is 'impossible to know' whether O'Keefe became immediately unconscious from his injuries, but Wolf postulated that he 'quickly became unconscious.' He said he doesn't believe O'Keefe died immediately from the brain injury, telling jurors that doctors can't declare someone dead when they have an internal temperature of around 80 degrees, like O'Keefe did. They would have needed to slowly warm O'Keefe and then assess his condition. Wolf also noted that black and blue 'racoon eyes,' like those exhibited by O'Keefe, can develop one to three hours after a traumatic brain event. During a brief cross-examination, Alessi questioned Wolf's credentials by asking if any of his workdays in the past few years have included forensic pathology. 'You could have asked that question very straightforward; I'm not a forensic pathologist, I'm a brain surgeon,' Wolf bit back. 'In other words, I see more brains than a forensic pathologist.' Alessi then asked if a brain injury can cause a laceration to form on the 'racoon eyes,' noting that O'Keefe also had a cut on his upper eyelid. Wolfe said the brain trauma would not have caused the eyelid scratch. Court resumed a few minutes before 11 a.m. Cannone did not explain what the "issue" was that she mentioned earlier in the day but stressed to jurors the importance of not discussing the case with anyone or allowing others to talk to them about the case. "That means each other," she said. The court will not take a morning break and will take an abbreviated lunch period because of the morning delay, Cannone said. Cannone told jurors at the start of the day that an issue had come to her attention requiring that she, along with counsel for both Read and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, speak with each one at sidebar. She said the process could take some time. Cameras will be shut off in the court room until testimony resumes. Hanley testified on May 20 about the pieces of evidence she analyzed from the crime scene, including a clear glass cup, pieces of glass found on Read's SUV and glass and plastic found outside the home at 34 Fairview Road, where O'Keefe's body was discovered. She briefly explained her process for labeling and analyzing the has been covering the case against Read and the criminal investigation since early 2022, when O'Keefe's body was found outside a Canton, Massachusetts home. You can watch CourtTV's live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings begin at 9 a.m. ET. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Karen Read trial Day 20 recap: Was John O'Keefe struck by a bat?
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Karen Read trial live updates: Key crash reconstruction expert testifies
As Karen Read's second murder trial enters its sixth week, prosecutors appear poised to wrap their case in the coming days against the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her boyfriend. Judge Beverly Cannone told jurors last week that the trial was ahead of schedule. It was expected to last six to eight weeks. Prosecutors say Read, 45, struck her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, with her SUV and left him to die in the snow outside the home of another cop after a night of heavy drinking in January 2022. Her lawyers say she was framed for O'Keefe's murder in a conspiracy theory devised by the owner of the home, Brian Albert, and other Massachusetts police officials. More: The dog did it? What to know about the German Shepherd tied to the Karen Read trial Jurors have so far heard from witnesses about a bombshell admission Read allegedly made the morning O'Keefe's body was found, damage discovered on her Lexus SUV, phone records that could lay out a timeline of the incident and the injuries O'Keefe sustained. On Tuesday, they were hearing testimony from a crash reconstruction expert believed to be critical to prosecutors' argument that Read backed into O'Keefe. Read's defense attorneys will also soon have a turn at calling witnesses. At every turn in the trial, they've so far sought to sow doubt about the integrity of the case, arguing that the investigation into O'Keefe's death was riddled with bias, incompetence and deceit. Read's first trial ended in a hung jury in 2024. The legal saga has fixated true-crime fans across the country, spurring an array of podcasts, movies and television shows. Here are the latest updates from Day 21 out of the Norfolk County court. Read's defense attorney questioned crash reconstruction expert Judson Welcher, one of the prosecution's key witnesses, without the jury present to determine his competency to testify and the admissibility of evidence he plans to present. The process is known as voir dire. They pressed Welcher on recent changes he made to his presentation and people he spoke with at Massachusetts State Police in the last few weeks. CourtTV has been covering the case against Read and the criminal investigation since early 2022, when O'Keefe's body was found outside a Canton, Massachusetts, home. You can watch CourtTV's live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings began at 9 a.m. ET. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Karen Read trial updates: Key crash reconstruction expert testifies
NBC News
24-05-2025
- NBC News
As Karen Read's retrial zeroed in on a possible murder weapon, an expert's credibility was challenged
At the heart of the murder charge against Karen Read is the weapon prosecutors say she used to kill her boyfriend — her 2021 Lexus SUV. Prosecutors spent much of the fifth week of the widely publicized retrial laying out the physical evidence that they say shows that Read drunkenly drove into Boston police officer John O'Keefe, 46, and left him for dead outside the home of a law enforcement colleague on Jan. 29, 2022. Lead prosecutor Hank Brennan and Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally called a series of forensic specialists to bolster that theory. The defense, which has rejected those allegations, focused much of its attention on a single expert who examined a key piece of evidence — vehicle data — and subjected that expert to hours of interrogation-like questioning as attorney Robert Alessi sought to dismantle the analyst's contributions to the prosecution's case. 'I'm trying to understand your statement,' an exasperated-sounding Alessi said at one point during cross-examination. 'Isn't it either you have a bachelor of science degree or you don't?' Read, who is charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death, has remained chatty with reporters throughout the proceedings and said after court Wednesday that she feels 'great' about the case so far. She has maintained her innocence throughout her legal battle. Her first trial ended with a hung jury last summer. Her defense team has said that she was framed by former and current law enforcement officers and others who were at the home where O'Keefe was found unresponsive early Jan. 29. The defense has also said that the state trooper who led the investigation into O'Keefe's death was biased and manipulated evidence. The trooper, who acknowledged sending unprofessional messages about Read but testified that his conduct did not affect the integrity of the investigation, was fired after an internal investigation found he violated agency rules. In court earlier this week, experts offered a flurry of technical, sometimes highly complex details about the physical evidence linked to Read's SUV: a strand of O'Keefe's hair found on the Lexus' rear quarter panel; bits of red plastic discovered on O'Keefe's clothes that could have been from the SUV's broken taillight. The vehicle data examined by Shanon Burgess, a digital forensic analyst, is central to the prosecution's case. Brennan has accused Read of reversing her Lexus into O'Keefe in a hit that left him dead, and Burgess' analysis found that the SUV recorded a 'backing event' outside the home where he was found unresponsive shortly after 6 a.m. The defense spent hours grilling Burgess on everything from errors the expert acknowledged making in his analysis to the accuracy of his resume. At one point, the grueling back-and-forth prompted a startling admission from Burgess. Even though his curriculum vitae and LinkedIn profile state that he has a bachelor's degree in science from the University of Alabama, he has no more than an associate's degree, Burgess testified. He began pursuing a bachelor's in 2008, he said, but never completed the coursework. When Alessi pressed Burgess to explain the misstatements, he attributed them to 'errors' and 'misinterpretations.' 'But you would agree those errors or misinterpretations have been in existence for some time?' the defense attorney responded. 'Yes,' Burgess said. 'I'm being made aware of them now.' At another point, Alessi pressed Burgess on what the defense lawyer described as a series of errors the expert made while analyzing three chips from Read's SUV. In a document Burgess provided to the prosecution in October, Alessi said, the expert asserted that a previous analysis used in the case was incomplete because it did not capture all of the data from the chips. In fact, Alessi said, it was Burgess who erred by making mistakes in his data conversion method. He confused megabits for megabytes, Alessi said, and gigabits for gigabytes. (Eight of the former equals one of the latter.) 'The entire foundation of your proposal was based on a fundamental misinterpretation of the difference between a computer bit and a computer byte, correct?' the defense lawyer said. 'No, not the entire thing,' Burgess responded. 'Well certainly a part of it was, correct?' Alessi said. 'Correct,' Burgess said. 'Since you wrote that, have you learned the difference between a bit and a byte?' the lawyer asked. 'I've always known the difference between a bit and a byte,' Burgess said. Later, Alessi questioned Burgess about what he described as discrepancies between two reports he wrote in the case. The first, submitted in January of this year, sought to reconstruct the events of Jan. 29, 2022, using vehicle data. The second, submitted earlier this month — after Read's retrial had already begun — was a supplemental report that sought to 'clarify' parts of the initial document, Burgess said. On the stand, Alessi asked him to explain one of those discrepancies in the supplemental report. On direct examination, Alessi said, Burgess told the prosecutor that he'd submitted the document on his own initiative in an effort to respond to a 'misleading' claim that he later said came from a defense expert. But the report itself stated the opposite, Alessi pointed out. In the document's first line, which Alessi read in court, Burgess said he was submitting the additional analysis at the prosecutor's request. 'Which is it?' Alessi asked. 'This is a holdover, so a copy and paste from my original report,' Burgess responded. 'Do you cut and paste important information from one report to the other without checking it for accuracy?' Alessi asked. 'I copy and paste certain portions,' Burgess said. 'You didn't review it this time, though, did you?' Alessi said. 'No,' Burgess responded. 'I didn't think it was significant.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Karen Read trial live updates: Neurosurgeon testifies after judge resolves jury 'issue'
Karen Read's second murder trial resumed with testimony from a neurosurgeon, after the judge in the case met with all jurors. Judge Beverly Cannone told jurors at the start of court on May 21 that an issue had arisen that made it necessary for her to meet with each of them. She did not explain the issue and asked jurors not to speculate, but paused testimony for the interviews. The "issue" did not appear to effect the trial, and testimony resumed before 11 a.m. Prior to the judge's announcement, Christina Hanley, a forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Crime Lab, was expected to take the stand. Hanley briefly testified on May 20 about the evidence she reviewed, including shards of glass found on Read's Lexus SUV and a broken cocktail glass discovered near the body of Read's Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe. Instead, prosecutors brought Miami-based Neurosurgeon Aizik Wolf to the stand to weigh in on O'Keefe's injuries. Prosecutors say Read, 45, struck O'Keefe with her car in a fit of drunken rage and left him to die outside the Canton, Massachusetts, home of another Boston cop during a massive snowstorm in January 2022. Read's attorneys say she was framed for the murder by the owner of the home, Brian Albert, and other Massachusetts police officers. More: The dog did it? What to know about the German Shepherd tied to the Karen Read trial Hanley's testimony will be critical for prosecutor's hoping to tie Read's vehicle directly to the crime scene. It comes a day after Read's lawyer, Robert Alessi, clashed with a key digital forensics' expert, Shanon Burgess, over allegations that he misrepresented his college degree achievements. Burgess developed a timeline using data from O'Keefe's cell phone and Read's SUV that suggests Read's Lexus could have hit O'Keefe. But that analysis, and Burgess' credibility, came into question after he admitted to not having a bachelor's degree despite listing one as part of his education history on LinkedIn and elsewhere. The Norfolk County case is the second time Read has been on trial for O'Keefe's death after a 2024 trial ended in a hung jury. For years, the whodunnit legal saga has transfixed true-crime fans across the country, spurring an array of podcasts, movies and television shows. Read all the latest updates from Day 20 of the trial. Prosecutor's called Aizik Wolf, a Miami-based neurosurgeon, to the stand. Wolfe testified in Read's first trial about O'Keefe's brain injuries. Court resumed a few minutes before 11 a.m. Cannone did not explain what the "issue" was that she mentioned earlier in the day but stressed to jurors the importance of not discussing the case with anyone or allowing others to talk to them about the case. "That means each other," she said. The court will not take a morning break and will take an abbreviated lunch period because of the morning delay, Cannone said. Cannone told jurors at the start of the day that an issue had come to her attention requiring that she, along with counsel for both Read and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, speak with each one at sidebar. She said the process could take some time. Cameras will be shut off in the court room until testimony resumes. Hanley testified on May 20 about the pieces of evidence she analyzed from the crime scene, including a clear glass cup, pieces of glass found on Read's SUV and glass and plastic found outside the home at 34 Fairview Road, where O'Keefe's body was discovered. She briefly explained her process for labeling and analyzing the has been covering the case against Read and the criminal investigation since early 2022, when O'Keefe's body was found outside a Canton, Massachusetts home. You can watch CourtTV's live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings begin at 9 a.m. ET. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Karen Read trial: Brain surgeon testifies after judge resolves 'issue'
